SAFE INJECTION DRUG SITES BENEFIT SOCIETY

It's high time federal politicians and other people got off their
moral high horses when it comes to safe injection sites for drug addicts.

The Tory government is bound and determined to shut down Canada's only
such operation called Insite, that is operating in Vancouver, B.C.

The feds are appealing a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that
concluded Vancouver's program is a key health service that reduces the
risk of people overdosing.

Insite is located in the hardcore skid row district of East Vancouver.
It's allowed to operate under a special exemption from Canadian drug
laws. It gives out clean needles to addicts and is the only facility
of its kind in North America. There are many such facilities in Europe.

Sure, on the surface, it does sound more than a little bizarre that
the government would allow such a thing.

The kneejerk reaction is that the ministry of health should be all
over this and move to shut it down.

After all, drugs are bad, right?

(There's more than a little irony in the fact the feds allow the sale
of cigarettes, though, and make more money from that than tobacco companies.)

But safe injection sites, as twisted as they sound, are part of a
pragmatic solution to helping people eventually kick their addictions.

It also has a huge side benefit in keeping scads of used needles off
the streets. People can and do accidentally poke themselves with those
and could potentially come down with a fatal infection such as HIV.

So, federal Health Minister Tony Clement is operating primarily from a
moral ground when he vows to continue the fight against safe injection
sites and to close down the one in Vancouver. The site is a success.

One expert I heard speak in its defence said it's an effective way to
reach desperate addicts and to try to get them to change their ways.

That expert pointed out officials might never have contact with such
problem-plagued people without allowing them a sanctioned site where
they can hit up.

It's a simple fact that these kinds of people aren't much in the mood
to listen to lectures from anyone when they're craving a hit.

But once they've shot up, a program defender explained, they're more
stable and sometimes agree to getting treatment to clean up their
lives. That's exactly what has happened in Vancouver.

Ah, but drugs are bad, the feds say.

Let's continue a war on drugs - on everything from pot to heroin, they
say.

Yeah, like that's worked.

There's been talk in other Canadian cities of setting up safe
injection sites but the moralists have crushed such dreams.

In Edmonton, officials have been talking seriously about a safe
injection site since at least 2001. But it's gone nowhere and junkies
continue to shoot up drugs and toss their needles all over the place,
including in residential neighbourhoods.

In 2002, then-police chief Bob Wasylyshen said he was open to a safe
injection pilot project for Edmonton if Vancouver's worked.

A couple of years after that, Mayor Stephen Mandel mused that Edmonton
should have a program.

"You don't want the public to think that we're encouraging drug use,
but it's like any of these things, you can't bury your head in the
sand," said Mandel.

That's a perfectly logical view. Too bad the moralistic federal Tories
don't see it that way.